Lord of the Rings director Sir Peter Jackson has approved the use of his personal jet to help locate missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370. His spokesperson confirmed that his Perth-based jet has been chartered by investigators to help coordinate communication among the investigators as the hunt continues.

Jackson owns a Gulfstream G650, an "ultra-high-speed, ultra-long-range business jet" according to its manufacturer. He isn't personally involved in the search efforts and spokesman Matt Dravitzki wouldn't say how much he's being paid by the Joint Agency Coordination Center. However, critics have lambasted the lease of the luxury plane, since it's expensive to operate and the military planes currently in use are "capable of their own communications."

Dravitzki said that shouldn't be the focus. "A lot of civilian and military aircraft are involved in the search, and it's kind of disappointing that because one is owned by a celebrity it becomes a matter of news when there are [over] 200 people missing," he told Radio New Zealand.Jordan Valinsky

He made a name for himself supporting candidate, then nominee, and finally President Donald Trump in articles, television and radio appearances, and on his pro-Trump blog and quarterly journal and now, Julius Krein is writing off his "disgraceful administration," and urging "anyone who once supported him as I did to stop defending the 45th president."

In a New York Times op-ed titled "I Voted for Trump. And I Sorely Regret It," Krein said he was attracted to Trump during the campaign due to his "willingness to move past partisan stalemates" and because he "forthrightly addressed the foreign policy failures of both parties, such as the debacles in Iraq and Libya." Krein admitted he was aware that Trump's statements on immigration were "often needlessly inflammatory" and his "policy positions were poorly defined," but he gave Trump "the benefit of the doubt."

Seven months into his presidency, and following Trump's remarks on Charlottesville, Krein said it's now clear his "optimism was unfounded" and Trump's "increasingly appalling conduct will continue to repel anyone who might once have been inclined to work with him." By the day, his behavior is growing "only more reprehensible," and his administration has "no significant accomplishments," Krein added. While he pins some of the blame for Trump's disastrous presidency on the media and the Republican Party, "the administration has committed too many unforced errors and deserves most of the blame for its failures." Read Krein's entire op-ed at The New York Times.Catherine Garcia

21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch wrote in a memo Thursday that President Trump's reaction to the violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville last weekend should "concern all of us as Americans and free people," and shared he and his wife Kathryn will donated $1 million to the Anti-Defamation League.

Murdoch, whose father is media mogul Rupert, said he doesn't usually "offer running commentary on current affairs," but was so distressed by the "acts of brutal terrorism and violence perpetrated by a racist mob" that he felt the need to comment. "I can't even believe I have to write this," Murdoch said. "Standing up to Nazis is essential; there are no good Nazis. Or Klansmen, or terrorists. Democrats, Republicans, and others must all agree on this, and it compromises nothing for them to do so." He also urged his colleagues to give to the ADL as well, calling it an "extraordinary force for vigilance and strength in the face of bigotry." Read the entire memo at Variety.Catherine Garcia

A Democratic Missouri state senator who posted, then quickly deleted, a comment on her personal Facebook page saying she hoped President Trump would be assassinated is ignoring calls from her colleagues to resign.

State Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal told the Kansas City Star she posted a statement saying, "I really hate Trump. He's causing trauma and nightmares." Several of her friends left comments, and in response to one, she wrote, "I hope Trump is assassinated!" "It was wrong of me to do that," she said. "But I am not going to shy away from the damage this president is causing." Her page is not visible to the public, and the post was first reported by a conservative St. Louis radio host.

Chappelle-Nadal said she disagrees with Trump's response to the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville last weekend, and that by saying "both sides" were to blame for the violence, Trump "made it easier for racists to be racists. As long as I have a voice, I'm going to talk about the damage [Trump] is creating in this nation." Democrats in her state are not supporting her, with Sen. Claire McCaskill releasing a statement on the comment saying, "I condemn it. It's outrageous. And she should resign." Stephen Webber, chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party, said her words were "indefensible," and State Senate Minority Leader Gina Walsh said Chappelle-Nadal "should be ashamed of herself.

Chappelle-Nadal told the Kansas City Star she has no plans to step down, since "legislators cheat on their wives or smoke marijuana and are not asked to resign. I'm not resigning over a simple mistake." The Secret Service said it is "looking into the comments." Catherine Garcia

Police in Spain announced early Friday that they shot and killed four people during a counter-terrorism raid in the coastal city of Cambrils.

One additional suspect was injured. The city is south of Barcelona, and it has not been confirmed if the suspects were linked to the van attack that killed at least 13 people Thursday in the Las Ramblas area. Two people were arrested Thursday in connection with the Barcelona attack, but police said neither detainee is suspected of being the van's driver. Catherine Garcia

At the same time WikiLeaks was publishing thousands of documents from the Democratic National Committee, potentially damaging for Hillaru Clinton and believed to have been stolen by Kremlin-backed hackers, it rejected at least 68 gigabytes of data from inside the Russian Interior Ministry, Foreign Policy reports.

FP spoke with the person who said they provided WikiLeaks with the Russia documents last summer, and was shown chat messages between the person and WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks said at the time that "as far as we recall, these are already public," and told FP when reached via Twitter that it "rejects all submissions that it cannot verify" but "has never rejected a submission due to its country of origin." The Twitter account is believed to be run by Assange, but FP was told by the account it's operated by a staff.

The person who provided the messages to WikiLeaks told FP the documents "would have exposed Russian activities and shown WikiLeaks was not controlled by Russian security services" and because "many WikiLeaks staff and volunteers or their families suffered at the hands of Russian corruption and cruelty, we were sure WikiLeaks would release it. Assange gave excuse after excuse." The cache was published online elsewhere, to little fanfare. Assange, who in 2012 had his own show on the Kremlin-backed RT network, has been accused of being too close to Russia, and came under fire when WikiLeaks failed to publish major documents out of the country, including paperwork showing a transaction worth 2 billion Euros between a government-owned bank and the Syrian regime, FP reports.Catherine Garcia

A day after President Trump shuttered two of his business councils, he announced he was giving up on a third. "The President's Advisory Council on Infrastructure, which was still being formed, will not move forward," a White House official confirmed Thursday. The council would have offered Trump advice on his visions for improving the nation's roads and bridges.

On Wednesday, Trump tweeted that he'd decided to disband his American Manufacturing Council and his Strategic and Policy Forum — though their demise may have happened with or without his blessing. Members of the Strategic and Policy Forum had already announced the council was breaking up because of the president's response to the weekend's white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Trump's American Manufacturing Council had been rapidly losing members as well, with seven business leaders quitting the council by Wednesday over Trump's response to the Charlottesville protests. Becca Stanek

The Dow Jones closed Thursday afternoon down more than 274 points as investors were rattled by the chaos engulfing the Trump White House in addition to a deadly terrorist attack in Barcelona. The 1.2 percent drop in the Dow made for the index's biggest drop in three months and its second-worst day of the entire year. The Nasdaq Composite also posted a 1.9 percent slide, while the S&P 500 plunged 1.5 percent.

The market was particularly spooked by the idea that former Goldman Sachs executive Gary Cohn could resign from President Trump's National Economic Council, Barron'sreports, given Cohn is in charge of the administration's tax reform efforts. Cohn was reportedly "disgusted" by Trump's tepid response to the white nationalist demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend, which resulted in the death of 32-year-old Heather Heyer. Kimberly Alters